“First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is”
‘There Is a Mountain‘ by Donovan

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Donovan Leitch was inspired by a Buddhist saying to write those lyrics about finding one’s true nature. If a mountain can disappear, can something bigger … like a star? That the question astronomers are pondering after a massive star in a strange dwarf galaxy suddenly blinked out of existence and left nothing behind to indicate what happened or where it went. The next lines of the song compares it to a caterpillar shedding its skin to transform into a butterfly. Did this star shed its life and transform into something else other than a black hole? If so, this would be a first. Is it? Donovan? Buddhists?

“We investigate a suspected very massive star in one of the most metal-poor dwarf galaxies, PHL 293B. Excitingly, we find the sudden disappearance of the stellar signatures from our 2019 spectra, in particular the broad H lines with P Cygni profiles that have been associated with a massive luminous blue variable (LBV) star.”

In a research paper published this week in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, astronomers from around the world reveal how the massive star they had studied between 2001 and 2011 suddenly disappeared when they went for a look in 2019. Located in the Kinman Dwarf (PHL 293B) galaxy in the Aquarius constellation about 75 million light years from Earth, this was a luminous blue variable star about 2.5 million times brighter than the Sun and in the latter stages of its life – although certainly not on its deathbed. Or so they thought.

“It would be highly unusual for such a massive star to disappear without producing a bright supernova explosion.”

Where was the supernova explosion?

In a European Southern Observatory (ESO) press release announcing the study, team leader and PhD student Andrew Allan of Trinity College Dublin describes using the ESPRESSO instrument (Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet and Stable Spectroscopic Observations) of the ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the VLT’s four 8-metre telescopes simultaneously in August 2019. Finding no sign of the star, they suspected and error and switched to the VLT’s X-shooter instrument (“the ultimate weapon in intermediate resolution spectroscopy across a wide wavelength range, from the ultraviolet (UV) to the near-infrared (NIR)”) and still found no sign of the massive luminous star. With the Kinman Dwarf galaxy being too far away to see individual stars, they went back to older data which gave the astronomers a clue to what they had really been looking at.

“The old data indicated that the star in the Kinman Dwarf could have been undergoing a strong outburst period that likely ended sometime after 2011. Luminous blue variable stars such as this one are prone to experiencing giant outbursts over the course of their life, causing the stars’ rate of mass loss to spike and their luminosity to increase dramatically.”

Ah-ha! The luminous blue variable star was luminous because it was in a last blast of brightness  and on its way out in 2011, or already “going gently into the night,” as team member Jose Groh, also of Trinity College Dublin, described it. As a result, the star may have dimmed considerably and is now blocked by a dust cloud. Or, the star collapsed into a black hole without producing a supernova – something only known to have occurred once before. As expected, the astronomers hope it’s the latter option, but can’t prove it because they can’t see the black hole … yet.

“Planned to begin operations in 2025, ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will be capable of resolving stars in distant galaxies such as the Kinman Dwarf, helping to solve cosmic mysteries such as this one.”

Will it come back?

Will they find a non-supernova black hole where the star was first? Donovan?

“Caterpillar sheds his skin to find a butterfly within.”

Then what?

“First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is”

Astronomy, like Buddhism and rock singers, can be comforting and frustrating at the same time.

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Let NASA go back to the Moon and Elon Musk go to Mars. People in the know (that’s you, me and the select few we tell) are planning trips to Neptune and Uranus to gather up buckets of diamonds raining from the clouds and bring them back to Earth. Crazy? Not according to a new study by Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) – not a law firm but a German research organization – which developed a way to analyze the hydrocarbon gas mixture enveloping these planets and found that they “can produce a kind of diamond rain.” When does the next rocket leave? And don’t forget to bring a big, strong sack!

“At SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University, the researchers studied the structure of the matter in mixtures that are typical for planets, in the case of ice giants, hydrocarbon, employing intense laser light. Standard plastic film served as a substitute for planetary hydrocarbon. An optical high-energy laser converts the plastic into warm dense matter: short, strong laser pulses generate shock waves in the film and compress the plastic to the extreme.”

Can you see any diamonds raining on Neptune?

According to the study, published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers at Stanford under the direction of Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf used a new technique based on X-ray scattering to simulate the conditions on Neptune, Uranus and similar gas exoplanets. The short, strong laser-generated shock waves create intense pressure — described as the equivalent of 250 elephants stacked on a human thumbnail (ouch!) – which heats the plastic up to 5,000 degrees F. Laser light is then aimed at the dense plastic and measured on how it scatters as it passes through. This light can then tell them about the structure of the matter. That’s when they made a startling discovery.

“The researchers observed that in a state of warm dense matter, what was formerly plastic produces diamonds. The high pressure can split the hydrocarbon into carbon and hydrogen. The carbon atoms that are released compact into diamond structures. In the case of planets like Neptune and Uranus this means that the formation of diamonds in their interior can trigger an additional energy source. The diamonds are heavier than the matter surrounding them and slowly sink to the core of the planet in a kind of diamond rain.”

Diamond rain! Take your protein pills and put your helmet on! OK, it’s not quite a piece of Neptunian cake to scoop up handfuls of diamonds like the scientists simulated. For one thing, these are ice giants and the rain is falling on their cores, which are 10,000 km (6,200 miles) deep below layers of hydrogen, helium, hydrocarbons, possibly nitrogen, and ices made of water, ammonia and methane. It’s that methane which forms the diamonds as the pressure heats it up while separating it into carbon and hydrogen. And, while the researchers guarantee that this carbon is in the form of diamonds, they don’t say how big they are nor what the daily rainfall totals are. Is Neptune Seattle or the Sahara? Are they keeping this information for their own trips to the planets?

How about on Uranus?

“Moreover, this method will enable unprecedented measurements of mixing/demixing kinetics in dense plasma environments, e.g., induced by chemistry or hydrodynamic instabilities.”

Being typical scientists, they’re more excited about the new process for studying gas exoplanets than the end result of diamond rains. This is why we need research AND development. There are few things as motivational as greed (sad as that is to say) so this discovery could someday drive the development of large, long-distance mining ships in operations that mimic both science fiction and the age of resource discovery and exploitation on Earth.

On second thought, perhaps we need another letter at the end of space R&D – E for ethics.

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Are you planning your first post-coronavirus-shutdown vacation? Looking for a place where you can get away from it all … except UFOs? Then stop throwing darts at a map (does anyone really do that anymore?) and Google a direct route to Idaho – the new UFO capital of the United States.

Did he say Idaho? Home of hot springs, great skiing and the Idaho Potato Museum?

Yes, Idaho. The Idaho Statesman proudly announced that the Gem State (its slogan is: “Great Potatoes. Tasty Destinations”) whose name is a Shoshoni exclamation which translates roughly to “Behold! The sun coming down the mountain!” had the highest per-capita rate of UFO sightings in the U.S. between January 2019 and June 2020. Over that time period, Idahoans reported 164 UFO sightings. With a 2019 population of 1,787,065, that adds up to 9.18 sightings per 100,000 people, just squeaking by Montana at 9.17 per 100K and well ahead of #3 New Hampshire at 7.87. These numbers were compiled by the Satellite Internet website using data from the National UFO Reporting Center.

Wait a minute! (Not a Shoshoni exclamation but appropriate here.) Idaho’s population density is only 21.6 people per square mile, while my state’s is (fill in the blank with any higher number – unless you live in New Mexico, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska and yes, Montana where there’s even less people watching for UFOs.)

Yes, you’re right. Florida has the highest number of UFO sightings over the same 18-month period (567) and is eighth in population density, which puts it at #36 with 2.64 per 100K people. But Florida has plenty of other strange things going on and plenty of explainable reasons why its population is seeing so many UFOs. On the other hand, Idahoans have clear skies and little light pollution. Is this why more of them are seeing UFOs or do aliens like potatoes too?

Come for the UFOs … stay for the scenery.

“The reality is most UFO sightings are less dramatic, such as a strange aircraft or odd light formations descending slowly into a forest. Planets are also sometimes mistaken for UFOs. You can get to know the stars and planets with apps like Sky Map, NASA, or Star Walk 2 so you don’t file a report on Venus. Another common error is mistaking a Starlink satellite chain for a UFO.”

Satellite Internet admits what the rest of us should already know but so many I-want-to-believe-ers refuse to accept about UFOs — a lot of them are SpaceX’s satellites (curse you, ELon Musk!). However, in the spirit of fairness, it points out that “up to 5% of UFO reports remain unexplained.”

“Idaho wants to believe: Our state has highest per-capita UFO sightings in the country.”

That’s the message for the good citizens of Idaho and the good citizens of the rest of the states who are ready to bust out of coronavirus lockdown and get up close and personal (within a proper social distance, of course) with some UFOs and possible extraterrestrials. Idaho has parks mountains, water, skiing, fresh air, potatoes … and UFOs. So plan your trip to Idaho and get ready to …

“Behold!”

For a few decades, sightings of large, triangular-shaped UFOs, usually described as being black in color, very often with rounded – rather than angled – corners, and that make a low humming noise, have been reported throughout the world. The sheer proliferation of such reports has led some ufological commentators to strongly suspect that the Flying Triangles (as they are known) are prime examples of still-classified aircraft, the development of which was secretly begun in the early 1980s by elements of the United States’ Department of Defense and Air Force. And while it would, of course, be foolish to completely rule out such a scenario, the fact is that when placed under scrutiny, this argument doesn’t completely stand up. As my extensive research demonstrates, the Flying Triangles have been with us for a very long time. Indeed, far longer than most people have realized. As you will now see.

There is a report of a Flying Triangle-style UFO described in officially-declassified U.S. Air Force documents of May 26, 1949. The account originated with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. According to Special Agent Bernard A. Price: “Investigation at Vicksburg, Mississippi regarding an unidentified aerial phenomena described as being a flying triangle, failed to verify definitely just what type of object was sighted.” In this particular case the object, which was seen on the night of April 22, 1949, was relatively small in size when compared to its present-day equivalents; but was described by the witness to Special Agent Price as moving “faster than mail planes, or National Guard planes, but slower than a jet type aircraft.” Also, the object reportedly did not exhibit “any kind of propulsion,” nor “stabilizers or antenna.”

Moving on: in September 1952, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) coordinated a huge military exercise in the North Sea and North Atlantic. Code-named Mainbrace, the exercise utilized the armed forces of Britain, the United States, Canada, Norway, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Approximately 85,000 personnel took part; the purpose of which was to demonstrate to the then-Soviet Union that NATO was fully prepared to withstand, and counter, any possible assault on Western Europe. Only twenty-four-hours into the exercise two reports of encounters with unidentified flying objects were filed with British, American and NATO authorities by naval personnel on board ships in the Atlantic between Ireland and Iceland. The first involved a “blue-green triangle” that was observed flying high shortly after dawn broke over the sea at a speed estimated to have been no less than 1,500 miles-per-hour. Later that same day, a similar-shaped craft – but this time emitting a “white light exhaust” – was reported to the U.S. Air Force’s UFO investigative body known as Project Blue Book.”

Then, on the night of September 9, 1960, an unidentified flying object, described as a “triangular formation of lights with a red light in the center,” was viewed by various people in the Consett, South Shields, Fawdon, and Fenham areas of the British city of Newcastle. Leslie Otley said that his wife and two neighbors saw the UFO circling over Fenham between 9:15 p.m. and 9:40 p.m. “A friend of mine, Mr. A. Miller, telephoned to say he saw them too, over Consett at 8:30 p.m.,” added Otley, who telephoned a local Royal Air Force base – RAF Acklington – to report the encounters. After having been firmly pressed by the Newcastle Evening Chronicle newspaper for a comment, a spokesman at RAF Acklington admitted that he had indeed received two independent reports of the mystery object, and said that these were duly being forwarded to the Air Ministry at London for examination. He also added, somewhat cryptically, to the newspaper that: “I have no further information about this, and even if I had, we are not allowed to release information.”

For the most convincing evidence that exists to support the notion that Flying Triangles – identical to those seen today – were being viewed much earlier than many students of the mystery would have us believe, we have to turn our attention to, once again, the U.K. – but this time to early 1965. While digging through a whole host of formerly classified UFO files at the National Archive at Kew, England in 1996, I uncovered a one-page document that revealed some truly startling data. As the relevant, now-declassified Ministry of Defense paperwork stated, on March 28, 1965, at around 9:30 p.m. near the town of Richmond, North Yorkshire, a man saw, “Nine or ten objects—in close triangular formation each about 100ft long—orange illumination below—each triangular in shape with rounded corners, making low humming noise.” The “rounded corners” and “low humming noise” are precisely what many witnesses to Flying Triangle-style UFO encounters reported throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, and continue to report to this day.

Shortly after midnight on Sunday, August 28, 1977, a large object – that fits the description of those discussed thus far – was seen by more than ten police officers and several members of the public in and around the Windermere area of Cumbria, England. Sergeant James Trohear described the “triangular or slightly diamond-shaped” nature of the craft; while another officer commented that it “resembled the shape of a stingray fish.” Meanwhile, Constable David Wild added that it appeared to be “kite-shaped, or like a skate fish,” adding that it was “very large and solid in construction.” It, like so many other sightings of a similar nature, was classified as unexplained.

Found in the released records of a now-defunct Ministry of Defense office known as Defense Secretariat 8, is a photo-copy of a long letter written by Mark Birdsall – the brother of the late Graham Birdsall, of UFO Magazine, and who was heavily active in UFO research in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Dated March 27, 1984, the letter from Mark requested access to any and all official data pertaining to a certain UFO incident, the details of which, Mark explained, were known to “a high ranking RAF [Royal Air Force] officer and thirteen others,” and that had occurred in early 1981. Mark added to the Ministry of Defense that his informant had advised him that “the incident” involved the sighting of a huge, triangular-shaped object over a military base on Cyprus. It was described as being “silver [and] hanging motionless in the sky at 60,000 feet.” The Flying Triangle, Mark elaborated, was 100 meters in length by 50 meters wide and, according to his sources, was apparently tracked on radar as well as having been sighted visually. On April 24, 1984, declassified Ministry of Defense files reveal, a DS8 representative replied to Mark Birdsall’s letter and advised him that they had “no record” of any such incident on file. To this day, the case remains unresolved.

Contrary to the popular belief perpetuated by elements of the world-wide UFO research community, we now know that sightings of the mysterious Flying Triangles have proliferated for, quite literally, decades: the forties, fifties and sixties. They are most assuredly not a relatively recent development. Had we – and by “we” I mean the collective Human Race – been designing, building and flying huge triangular-shaped, high-performance aircraft in the 1950s and 1960s, then surely they would not still be subject to an overwhelming blanket of secrecy to this very day. More likely, they would either have been put to regular use in a battlefield environment, or the projects would have been canceled as not being seen as ultimately viable. Either way, we would by now have widespread awareness of their existence, in much the same way that the existence of the famous U-2 spy-plane of the Cold War, and today’s F-117 Stealth Fighter and the B-2 Stealth bomber have been acknowledged. The fact that we do not have such awareness, however – and the fact that the UFO research community is still scratching its collective head as it seeks to resolve the puzzle – suggests strongly that the Flying Triangle has a far stranger point of origin. Those who seek a definitive answer to the conundrum of the Flying Triangle might be very wise to turn their attentions away from restricted military bases and firmly towards the distant heavens.

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